Purdue shooting

January 21, 2014

Purdue shooting, One person was killed inside a Purdue University classroom Tuesday by a gunman who surrendered to a police officer within minutes of the attack, officials said.

Purdue Police Chief John Cox said the man appeared to have targeted the victim, also a male, around noon in a basement classroom of the Electrical Engineering Building. Cox said he didn’t attack anyone else.

“The individual entered the facility and took the actions that he took, and then immediately left the facility without any other interaction that we’re aware of,” Cox said.

The suspect gave himself up to a West Lafayette police officer outside the building on the 40,000-student campus, he said.

Cox and Purdue Provost Tim Sands told reporters during an afternoon news conference that they had not yet confirmed the identities of either the suspected gunman or the victim.

Cox said the man arrested wasn’t immediately cooperating with investigators.

Purdue officials issued a text alert telling those on the campus about 60 miles northwest of Indianapolis to seek shelter shortly after the shooting was reported. Within two hours, the university said there was no ongoing threat on campus and allowed normal operations to resume in all buildings except the engineering facility.

Purdue officials considered the campus to be secure, said Sands, who in June will become president of Virginia Tech, where an April 2007 campus massacre left 33 dead.

“We’re encouraging students to continue about their usual business on the rest of the campus except for the Electrical Engineering Building,” he said.

Students described a chaotic scene when the first report came in.

Julissa Martinez, a freshman nursing student from Portage, said she was in psychology class on another part of the campus when she received the text message saying the university was on lockdown. She said her professor briefly kept teaching, then stopped lecturing so that students could contact people to let them know they were safe.

“He tried to get everything under control because people were freaking out,” she said.

She said students were nervous because there was a lot of speculation about the severity of the situation.

“It was scary because you hear about it, but you never expect it to happen on your campus,” Martinez said.

Senior Saran Mishra, editor of the Purdue Exponent, the campus newspaper, said some students reported hearing fire alarms and were told to evacuate.

“Right now I’m still in shock,” he said.

Cox, the campus police chief, said authorities responded aggressively after the shooting was reported, with about 20 campus and city police officers at the building within minutes.

Sands said the university will offer assistance to those who need it as the circumstances of the shooting are sorted out.

“We’ll provide whatever services we can to assist our students, our faculty and our staff in coming back to a sense of normality,” he said.

Purdue shooting: Get the latest updates on the reported shooting at Purdue University.

One person is in custody after a shooting was reported on Purdue University’s campus around noon today, according to university officials.

Police had set up a command post on Northwestern Avenue across from the engineering mall, according to police dispatchers.

Purdue University sent the following message: “Shooting reported on campus; Bldg. Electrical Engineering; avoid area; shelter in place; Check http://www.purdue.edu for updates.”

Two students told the Journal & Courier they heard what sounded like two shots and saw someone who possibly had blood on his or her hands. Students also said police were inside with assault rifles drawn, though that detail has not been confirmed by police.

Police have cleared the electrical engineering building and continue to search the area. People should remain sheltered in place until further notice.

One person was shot to death on the campus of Indiana’s Purdue University on Tuesday, and a male suspect was in custody, authorities said.

The shooting took place around noon local time (1800 GMT) in a basement classroom of the university’s electrical engineering building. The shooter seemed to have had only the victim as his intended target, leaving the building immediately after the shooting, said Purdue University Police Chief John Cox.

“It’s just a tragic situation,” Cox said, adding that the shooter was taken into custody without a struggle.

The police, however, did not identify either the victim or the shooter.

University officials said classes had resumed and the campus was considered safe, though the electrical engineering building remained closed.

Upon hearing of the shooting, campus officials immediately ordered students, faculty and staff across campus to take shelter as police searched the area.

School officials said they were make counseling available for students.

Indiana Governor Mike Pence called the shooting a “tragedy.”

“Our heartfelt condolences go out to the family of the victim and to everyone in the Purdue community,” Pence said in a statement, pledging state law enforcement assistance in the investigation.

The frequency of shootings at schools and universities in the United States is fueling the national debate over gun control. On Monday night, a student was shot and critically wounded outside an athletic center at Widener University in Chester, Pennsylvania, near Philadelphia.

Last week alone, two students were shot at a high school in Philadelphia, another was shot at a high school in Albany, Georgia, and two students were shot at a middle school in New Mexico.

Gun ownership laws in the United States have come under intense scrutiny since December 2012, when 20 young children and six educators were shot dead by a long gunman at Sandy Hook elementary school in Connecticut, Purdue shooting.